Sunday, February 11, 2018

Dam protest in Chile

The HidroAysén project envisages five dams to tap the Baker
and Pascua rivers, an isolated area of fjords and valleys, and generate 2.75
gigawatts of power for Chile's booming economy.

The government has championed the dams as vital to poverty
alleviation and economic growth, but public opinion has split, with many saying
the project is unnecessary and will devastate an ecological haven.

The project is estimated to flood 5,900 hectares (15,000 acres) of natural reserves. It will also attract 5,000 workers from Chile and abroad. The project will be connected to the Central Interconnected System by 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) of electric wiring.

Based on study of the project construction and access roads will impact six national parks, eleven national reserves, twenty-six conservation priority sites, sixteen wetland areas and thirty-two privately owned protected conservation areas. This is in addition to six Mapuche communities including four in Toltén and one Lautaro and Victoria.

A portion of the Baker 2 dam will be located in Laguna San Rafael National Park which will cause irreversible environmental damage.

About Me

Daan Kolthoff is a writer, living between the hills of Wellington, New Zealand and, when not writing, meditating or walking the hills, he is usually researching, reading about or ordering berets from around the world.